Samir Saini's Review On Symbiosis Institute Of International Business - [SIIB], Pune

As is required for all Symbiosis colleges, I gave the SNAP test. Prepared for about 2 weeks prior to the exam as I was working then, I remember getting a score of about 108 which was reasonably good at the time. Choose SIIB as they were the only Symbi college then offering a course in Energy & Environment and they accepted a work ex of 2yrs+.

Yes it does provide college internships and this is for a duration of about 3 months ahead of your final semester dissertation. There is a selection process for internships as well and each company has their own process. Stipends depend on the companies - The ones who do give stipends are in the range of around 4K to max. 10 K per month.

We do have a placement cell which is quite organised. For the International business course there are a number of MNCs (you can refer the SIIB website for more details on the recent year details). At the time of completing my course, there was a dearth of companies for the E&E batch but in the end the entire batch did manage to get placed (at least those who wanted campus placements).

There are several major events in college - one of the oldest being the Leadership series which is flagship event. The college also holds international conference, and events even suited to specific branches & specialisations (e.g. HR Conclave for HR & ENECON for the Energy & Environment specialisation).

On the whole the fee structure back then in 2010-12 was pretty affordable as compared to other MBA colleges. The total fees I recall was to the tune of around 8.5 to 9L. Fees are to be paid prior to each semester and the college does give some grace time (around a few weeks) in case anyone is delayed for a given payment.

Scholarships are offered for very specific cases. I don't recall any scholarships in particular. Fee waivers (to a very small extent) can be granted on a case to case basis.

Gender ratio in college to my best recollection was 65:35 (with 65% males & 35% females) for all the three courses combined. There were never any eve-teasing or ragging incidents in college and even lived in perfect harmony. We played every possible sport together from cricket, football, volleyball, table tennis, etc. And there was intense internal very friendly competition among the three colleges that shared the campus.

The seniors are very helpful even at the induction phase and throughout the course. I do get regular updates being an alumnus now - The college also holds events in all the major cities once a year to ensure that they are in touch with the Alumni. We also get invites for all major events and celebrations.

The overall course content for the first three semesters was reasonably hectic but not hair splitting - I think it was a good balance. You get time to pursue some extra curricular activities and go to the gym or hang out every now and then. The last semester isn't too heavy & during the last 1-2 months you get a lot of time on hand.

The typical procedure is a group task, followed by a group discussion and then finally a personal interview. Each and every task contributes to the final score which is the basis of shortlisting & selection. The group task is pretty easy - They ask you to build something in about 15-30min with some raw material (at least 6 years back).

The college faculty are well qualified and there is a mix of teachers with core academic experience spanning decades as well as professors who come in directly from the industry and who also have spent decades on the topics that they eventually deliver (this becomes especially important for the specialisation topics).